1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultraviolet ray sterilization device, more particularly one, which allows water to be exposed to ultraviolet ray for longer time so that water can be thoroughly sterilized, and which is structured in such a manner that the various internal components such as the ultraviolet ray lamp tube can be replaced relatively easily.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
People can use water filters to remove dangerous contaminants owing to the increasing concern over the quality and safety of tap water, which is nevertheless the more economical choice if one is only choosing between tap water and bottled water. And, water filters are getting popular because more people have begun to realize that drinking filtered water is a much more economical practiced than drinking bottled water, and pure water product of water filters can be cleaner and safer to drink than bottled water.
An ultraviolet ray sterilization device can be connected to a water filter to kill germ and microorganism in water passed through the filter so that water is even safer to drink. A common ultraviolet ray sterilization device consists of a sealed stainless steel tube, a quartz tube held in the stainless steel tube, and an ultraviolet ray lamp tube held in the quartz tube. When water is passed through the space between the quartz tube and the stainless steel tube from an inlet on one end of the sterilization device, it will be exposed to ultraviolet ray to be sterilized. Next, the sterilized water will flow out through an outlet on the other end of the ultraviolet ray sterilization device.
The above ultraviolet ray sterilization device is found to have the following drawbacks:
1. Water will travel from the inlet to the outlet along a substantially straight path. In other words, the length of time water is exposed to ultraviolet ray in the stainless tube of the sterilization device totally depends on the length of the ultraviolet ray lamp tube. If the ultraviolet ray lamp tube is short, water can't be sufficiently sterilized with the sterilization device.
2. The stainless steel tube is sealed up, and can't be easily opened. Therefore it is difficult for the user to replace the quartz tube and the ultraviolet ray lamp tube after they have been used for a certain amount of time.
Therefore, it is a main object of the present invention to provide an improvement on an ultraviolet ray sterilization device to overcome the above problems.